F1 drivers debate Domenicali’s plan for shorter races

Following comments from Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali suggesting that the championship’s chiefs would look at shorter races, Fernando Alonso said that the argument of shorter attention spans was “a problem of society and the kids”, and not for F1. 

Domenicali stated that F1 could look at reducing the duration of grands prix as part of a series of considerations to boost F1’s popularity – including the idea of more sprint races on the calendar. 

Alonso feels that the usual length of a grand prix does not require changing; he used the example of a football match and admitted that he does not watch the full 90 minutes without distractions, but does not believe the solution to that would be to reduce games to 60 minutes. 

That said, he stated that he trusted Domenicali’s judgement and added that it would likely not affect him anyway given his implied shorter shelf life in F1. 

“I will be in front of the TV when that happens, so, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a problem with the sport, so probably it’s not needed to change,” Alonso said. 

“But Stefano knows better than anyone, so if he thinks that if it’s needed, we are in good hands in this kind of decisions with him.  

“Football matches are a little bit long; when I sit in front of the TV, I’m not watching the 90 minutes concentrated. I go to the kitchen, go back, I mean there is always some moments of distraction.  

“But no one is talking about having 60 minutes football matches or something like that. It’s a problem of the society and the kids, but not the sport, so probably it’s not needed to change.” 

Andrea Kimi Antonelli backed the idea of additional sprint races, stating that he enjoys the challenge of having to be “on point straight away” but felt that shorter races overall would be a challenge to balance with regulations. 

He pointed to pit strategies, given that F1 races can be currently done on one-stop runs, and wanted to keep the variation open. 

“It’s a tough one, I think personally sprint weekends are fun because they have a lot of activity,” Antonelli added. “You have to be on point straight away because you have one practice, then qualifying and then you go into a sprint race. 

“But I think shorter races – I don’t think it would really work. Already now with long races we do one-stop strategies with the tyres we have, and you know they would have to implement so many more rules for a shorter race in terms of pitstop.  

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

“I think also with the longer race, probably you have also more time to build your race. But sprint weekends are fun, so that wouldn’t be bad having more of them.” 

Haas racer Esteban Ocon offered a contrary point of view on the length of races, stating that the grands prix more likely to push the two-hour mark could be shortened without losing too much – he cited Singapore as an example of this. 

But the Frenchman pointed to consumerist culture as the driving force behind F1 considering more sprint races; he felt that going to the MotoGP formula of holding sprint races on every weekend would be too much, and it would benefit F1 to build anticipation with a ‘less is more’ approach. 

“A lot has been tried. I think it’s good that we get consulted a little bit in this with Stefano,” Ocon said.  

“But my opinion is that there’s no need to make a big change about what we have. I think going to a MotoGP stage would be a bit extreme for sure, to have a spring weekend at every race. 

“And I don’t think necessarily the show will be much better for sure. As a fan, what you want to see is more racing. We live in such a consumer world now that we want to see more spectacle, more show, and more frequently. 

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images

“When we are on Netflix and we see a series we are like ‘it’s too long to wait for season two’. That’s basically how the world is now. 

“But it’s also nice to wait patiently and expect the race. A grand prix is a big thing and I’m a bit more into that, I really like to wait a good amount of time to be excited again. 

“I would agree with, with Stefano that maybe some of the races are a bit long – let’s say the ones that are more than two hours or like Singapore or stuff like that.  

“Maybe shortening a little bit, it would not make any difference to the spectacle of the show, but that’s how it’s been historically for so long. But [shortening] a race like Monza or a race like Spa, that would be too short.”